Rules of a Gentleman
by Mia Auter
Summary: Ron learns about making a relationship through trial and error.  A series of interconnected one-shots about Ron and Hermione's life after Hogwarts.Some funny, some sad, all worth the time.


Author's Note: A series of interconnected one-shots about Ron's life and the lessons he learns during his relationship with Hermione. Some of it will be cute, and fluffy, and some of it will be angst. It really depends on what plot bunnies are hopping around when I start writing. These rules from the .com and if anyone is interested I will put the link and the text of the rule at the top.

_Rule #22; Sorry doesn't always meant they're right and you're wrong. It means you value your relationship more than your ego._

As he walked briskly through the marble halls of the Ministry, Ron's only thought was of his girlfriend. She wanted him to take the desk job.

_That woman must be daft if she thinks I'm going to give up my job to sit behind a desk, and rearrange papers all day. How would that look? 'Hi, Mr. Granger, I know I'm supposed to be taking care of your daughter but I thought that it might be better for me to sit in an office all day while people that pose an _immediatethreat_ to her safety run around on the loose. What? No, of course I didn't stand up for myself, because I'm a spineless berk._'

Ron grit his teeth harder and began to walk faster. He had to get out of the Ministry into the fresh air of London. _There's an ironic thought_, mused Ron as he took a sharp left down a dark corridor. He was barely conscious of the direction he was moving in, only that he was moving.

After a particularly nasty mission Hermione implored him to quit his job as an active Auror and take another job in their office. Basically, he'd be demoted from full fledge Auror to paper pusher, and prospective candidate interviewer. She tried to sell the new job like it would be a good thing. 'Think of it, Ron, you'll be in charge of the future of the department.' Didn't she realize that simply being in the Auror's active rotation made him the future of the department? He and Harry and were the unstoppable duo responsible for capturing some of the modern era's most dangerous dark wizards. They _were_ the future. Any new recruits would learn from them, not the other way around.

If he chose to take the desk job in the office he would be reduced to coffee boy for the real, brave men running around catching bad guys. Everyone would know he took the job because of her. Ron was used to Hermione being pushy and overly concerned for his safety, but this was really taking it too far.

_I went through the training. I studied at the Academy for four years. I earned my right to be on that team and I'll be damned if I let Hermione stand in the way of my dreams. I've wanted to be an Auror since I was fifteen; she knows that! I didn't stop her from pursuing S.P.E.W, did I? I can guarantee that Auror do more for the everyday wizard than S.P.E.W.! _

She had some nerve asking him, in front of Harry and Kingsley no less, to give up the position. Like this particular discussion couldn't wait until he got home that night. Ron decided to give her a piece of his mind and circled back to resume a path to her office.

He burst through the door a few minutes later, having worked himself into lather.

"Hermione, you had no right to ask me to give up-"His tirade was interrupted by the searing of his left arm. The Auror Phoenix blazed on his left forearm, and for the briefest moment Ron and Hermione's eyes met in mutual panic.

_This isn't good. We haven't planned any take downs for this week. Today was supposed to be quiet; why is this happening?_ A million thoughts ran through Ron's head at the same time. All he was capable of doing was leaning across Hermione's desk to kiss her frozen form, shocked into stillness in her chair, and run out of the office.

* * *

><p>Hermione paced nervously in the foyer of their ground level apartment. She didn't dare look at the clock for fear of the time she'd see there. The sun dipped below the horizon hours ago, but in her state seconds felt like years. There was no telling how much time had elapsed since she'd attempted to make dinner as if everything was normal at seven. She picked at her dinner for a few minutes before assuming her position guarding the front door. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Hermione was vaguely aware that it was silly to watch the front door<em>; Ron's a wizard. He could easily apparate into the bedroom if he wanted to. <em>

_If he can even apparate… Its been hours since he showed up to resume their argument in her office. Hours since he pressed a desperate kiss to her stunned lips, _she thought ruefully. _Every time Ron goes on these missions I'm paralyzed with fear he might never come back. He has such a passion for his work in the Auror department, but he does such boneheaded things. He rushes into situations without thinking and just has faith his Auror team will back him up. Well one day they aren't going to be there and then who knows what. How will I explain to a tiny child that, 'Daddy isn't coming home anymore. He's gone and done some idiotic and will be napping for several centuries'. _

Hermione began to cry. She felt increasingly vindicated with every second that ticked by. She'd asked him, no begged him earlier that day to consider taking a job in the office. It wasn't as glamorous, to be sure, but it was safer. If he was serious about starting a life together, then he needed to learn that sometimes compromise if more important than our own convictions. Hermione had her suspicions that Ron was planning to propose soon, and yet he still charged head first into dangerous situation son the daily. Every time, Hermione feared it would be the last time she would see him again.

In the back recesses of the apartment, Hermione heard the telltale crack of apparition. In her excitement she rant ot eh spot she expected her beau to be. Instead arriving alone, Ron was accompanied by an Auror doctor who was magically lowering her boyfriend into bed. Several angry red lacerations cut around his forearms, shadowing the scars left by an attack by brains in the fifth year. The side of his face was black and blue, as if he'd engage in hand to hand combat and gotten a the stuffing kicked out of him.

The doctor didn't speak at first. He simply allowed her to stare in shock at her bruised and bloodied boyfriend as he lay unconscious in bed.

"He'll be fine when he wakes up. He's a tough guy, but he is going to need to get a few days of good bed rest." The doctor gave instructions for dressing Ron's wounds in a calm even tone that refused to vary more than a few pitches during his whole speech.

Hermione thanked the doctor before climbing into bed next to Ron's still form. Hermione thought angrily that the doctor placed Ron on the wrong side of the bed, and now she would have to spend a restless night on his side of the bed, waiting for him to wake so they could trade positions. She eventually fell into a fitful sleep, waking every few hours to turns over and snuggle closer to her ever warmer boyfriend.

* * *

><p>When the first hints of daylight peaked through the windows, Hermione woke to find Ron looking at her with a smile on his face.<p>

"Morning, love." He replied in the most casual tone she'd ever heard come from a man sentenced to bed rest for two weeks. Hermione wanted to cry from happiness but resisted the urge with all her will. She would not cry in front of him. She had no right.

"Ron!" She gripped his body and plunged her hand into the orange hair at the nape of his neck. She caressed his scalp through the soft strands and pressed butterfly kisses to his chest. She was beyond happy to see him speaking again. She loved him, more than ever as she looked at his sunlight splashed face in the early morning. She felt, more than heart him clear his thorat and lfited her head enough to hear what he had to say.

"Mione, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get into trouble. I didn't know that they would have backup. I didn't' know I would have to wait so long for my own back up. I didn't mean to worry, and I'd intended to be home for dinner. I just didn't quite make it." He said laughing and raising his bandaged arms. "I should have listened to you. I don't ever want to have to leave when we are fighting. That is the wordst feeling in the world. The whole time I was gone, all I could think was that we left our discussion unfinished and that Id be in the process of yelling at you when I got called away. That's not what relationships are about. They are about coming to a happy medium and making as many peple as happy as possible. I wont' do it again."

Hermione was genuinely touched his speech. "No, Ron its okay, I was wrong. I shouldn't have asked you to give up your job. I know how much it means to you. And you don't have to promise you'll never make me nervous again. I know you will. That's the nature of your job and I'm okay with that, really. I understand you need to get revenge on the people that took your friends and family from you."

"But that's just it, Hermione, I won't be late again." I'm going to take the desk job as soon as possible. I thought I wanted to fight bad guys but last night convinced me, I just wanted the excitement. The fighting makes me queasy." She laughed gaily and almost cried from happiness. "I think I'm going to take it easy for a while. I have a whole long future planned for the two of us and I would really like to be a part of the future I put so much time in to planning, if that's okay with you." She kissed him soundly and they enjoyed the rest of their day together in the sun washed apartment.

_Thank, Merlin!_

Rule #22: Sorry doesn't mean they're right and you're wrong. It means you value your relationship more than your ego


End file.
